The Artist As Workman

When I contemplate the fried brain of Syd Barrett, I wonder at the lengths some artists will go to in order to find inspiration. Barrett wasn't the only one destroying his brain with hallucinogenic drugs. I'm sure other members of the Floyd experimented as well. We know the Beatles did as well as the Grateful Dead. Then, you have writers with their drinking, and artists with their madness and bizarre personalities. Is madness--natural or induced--the wellspring of creativity? I don't think so.

In reading about writers, musicians, artists, and other creative types, I am struck by the division between the inspired artists versus the working artists. The inspired artists will get some real sparks of genius, but they are few and far between. They create only by the spur of inspiration. Others are different. They treat their art as a job, and they sit down to work. I find these workmen (and women) are the ones who make the best, lasting, and most prolific art there is.

Let's take The Beatles. Lennon was the inspired one. McCartney was the worker. When they split, Lennon made a few great songs and degraded into a house husband to Yoko. McCartney worked his ass off and continued making great music all the way to the present day.

Bob Dylan is another workman. He tours constantly and keeps putting out albums. The man has not rested on his laurels, and the music he makes today is still as good as ever.

James Bond creator Ian Fleming is another workman. He would get up and write whether he wanted to do it or not. He treated it like a job. Vincent Van Gogh did the same thing. Despite being broke, Van Gogh would get up every day and paint something. It was habitual.

This is the way creative work needs to be. The carpenter, the plumber, and the stone mason go to work each day whether they want to or not. They put in the hours. Similarly, the artist, the musician, and the writer must do the same thing. Creativity is work. If you wait for inspiration, you will find very little of it. And LSD is no substitute for work.

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